Disney Facts Revealed: Answers to Fans’ Curious Questions

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I love Disney trivia and learning about the fascinating history of the Walt Disney Company—everything from Walt Disney to animation to the theme parks. The ultimate Disney trivia master was Dave Smith, who founded the Disney Archives on the Studios lot in Burbank and answered fans’ questions for over three decades. Sadly, Dave passed away in February 2019, and I will always treasure my signed copy of his book Disney Facts Revealed: Answers to Fans’ Curious Questions.

Just a little background on Dave Smith. He was hired by the Walt Disney Company in 1970 and was first tasked with archiving Walt’s office after it had been sitting completely untouched for four years after Walt’s death. He also started the Disney Archives that same year. In the early 1980s, Dave stared a question and answer column in the new Disney Channel Magazine called Exploring the Archives. He had to make up the questions himself for the first few publications until the column became popular enough for fans to send in their own. The column was renamed Ask Dave and moved to the Disney Magazine and then online. Dave also answered questions for the Disney Fan magazine in Japan.

Since Ask Dave became so popular, he composed a number of questions and answers into two books: Disney Trivia from the Vault: Secrets Revealed and Questions Answered (2012) and Disney Facts Revealed (2016).

Many of the questions for Disney Facts Revealed were asked between 2010 and 2014, though some go back to the early days of Ask Dave. There are 1000 questions and answers in the book and are categorized into different topics such as Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Music, and Animated Shorts. It’s a great read for any fan to get their Disney fix because it covers such a wide variety of topics.

Some of my favourite questions and answers from this book are:

Disneyland Q: Which pirates were on the original murals inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride queue? Who did Jack Sparrow and the others replace on the queue murals?

A: The caricatures on the interior walls are based on some of Imagineer Marc Davis’s earliest renderings of the nautical personages Sir Francis Verney, Ned Low, Sir Henry Mainwaring, Anne Bonny and Mary Reed, and Captain Charles Gibbs. Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa were added in 2006; these two were new and did not replace any previous art.

Animated Shorts Q: I know that Walt was the first voice of Mickey Mouse, but did he also provide Mickey’s whistling of the tune “Steamboat Bill” in Steamboat Willie?

A: We do not know for sure, but I would guess that he did not. He recorded the film in New York City and hired sound effects artists there to perform on the sound track. Mickey had no dialogue in that cartoon. Occasionally in the first year or so, Carl Stalling, who composed most of the musical scores for the cartoons, stepped in to do Mickey’s voice.

There are so many great questions like these in the book and its fun getting the insider knowledge into the Disney Archives. If you are a fan of Disney trivia and history, I would definitely recommend this book or any of Dave’s other work.

Did you submit a question to Ask Dave in the past? What’s your favourite piece of Disney trivia?